seat belt buckle question

[Unregistered]

I installed our radian rf rock solid. But the top of buckle ends up into the seat belt path inside the shell of the seat. Is that ok? If I twist the stalk, then the plate ends up lining up with the edge of the shell where it needs to turn into the seat, and I can't get it to go tight when it hits there no matter if I twist the stalk anywhere between 1-3 times it does the same.

Could you critique this?

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid21726445

This first picture shows where the buckle ends up. The second two show the angle and such.

I also installed it ff, and also had the same problem with the top of the buckle ending up inside the seat belt path inside the shell. Again, is that ok?

This pictures show that:
http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid21726653

Thanks!

[Pixels]

It's ok if it's either completely inside the belt path, or completely outside it, not sitting on the edge. Having it on the edge could put too much strain on the buckle and break it, or cause it to release in a crash.

Oh, and the shelf liner that you have under the seat may melt into your leather seats. You don't want that. Also, it can cause a false sense of tightness. If it's not tight enough without the shelf liner, it's not tight enough with it.

The angle looks ok. It might be a bit too upright for a newborn, but really the best indicator of that is the child. If the baby's chin ends up on her chest, it's too upright. If her head rolls to the side, that's fine. But that probably doesn't matter since it sounds like the Radian isn't compatible with that seating position in that vehicle. What vehicle is it?

[Defrost]

How old is your child?

How twisted is the buckle stalk in that picture? It looks like you should be able to get more twists out of it.

Are you counting your twists at 360 degrees? You are allowed three FULL 360 degree twists. I'm just wondering if you flipped it (so it's upside down), and counted that as "one," then flipped it back right-side-up and counted that as "two," etc.

It should go like this: flip it upside-down, flip again, that's ONE. Etc. :)

If that's still not enough to pull it completely out of the belt path, you can also scoot it sideways a bit, away from the buckle stalk, which might help keep the latchplate out of the beltpath.

[Unregistered]

My dd is 18 months old.

We have always had the shelf liners under our car seats ever since our very first car seat tech install before my oldest dd was born. They have always put them in. I was not aware that it was a problem.

In that original picture I posted, the stalk is not twisted at all. It does come out of the seat at an angle making it look like it may have had a twist, but it didn't.

There is no way to scoot the seat over as it is lined up with the natural indentation of the seat. Moving it over would make the seat uneven and it would just recenter itself when tightened anyways.

Here is a picture with the stalk twisted a full 3 twists with the forward facing install. I haven't retried the rf install.:
http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid21739324

notice that when it is twisted, it does shorten and pull partly out of the belt path, but then where the male and the female parts connect is now lined up with the edge of the belt path and it seems like that would cause strain on the buckle.

Opinions?

[Defrost]

At 18 months she would be much safer RF, so I'd really encourage you to try it that way again. :)

You are correct that twisting the buckle stalk doesn't pull it down enough. :( You need to have seat belt webbing at the edge of the belt path, with the latchplate/buckle either all the way out of the beltpath or all the way in (in which case you would have the buckle webbing at the edge of the beltpath.) It doesn't appear that either is possible in this case, at least with the FF install.

Would it be possible to try it in one of the outboard positions instead?

[Unregistered]

That was the outboard position.

ff would be for my 5 year old. rf would be for the 18 month old.

[Unregistered]

Sorry for the second post. I wanted to add that the car is a 2002 Nissan Pathfinder.

I think my car is just horrible for installing car seats or something. The only position that never gave too much difficulty is the center position with the lap belt with dd1's roundabout.

dd1 was in her roundabout rear facing until 2 years and 8 months until she got too tall. Then we turned it ff until a little over 3 when we initially purchased the radian. I've had car seat techs install this radian ff in the very same seat position that I am trying. I never paid attention to where the buckle was back then. We stopped using it and bought a Signo (Oct 2007) when she was 3 1/2 because I was tired of her head bobbing around and hanging forward in the radian when she slept (did not realize at the time there was an extra recline setting on the base that we could have tried.)

dd2 has been rear facing in her Maxi Cosi since she was 3 months. I wish we had started with it as the hand me down snug ride was a PITA outboard. I we never satisfied with the install outboard, and I couldn't get the seat in and out of the base though the door easily. It was a really tight fit. I even broke off the garment hook trying to get the seat out once. There just wasn't much clearance between the top of the base and to top of the doorway. It was different when it was in the center with dd1. And if I tried to leave the seat in the base, I couldn't tighten/loosen the straps as the harness connector or something kept catching on something in the base. So I ditched it for the Maxi Cosi.

The Signo has been in the car ff (installed by the techs, I didn't pay attention to the buckle placement). Right now I took the Signo out so I could wash the cover and I'm waiting for it to dry. Also waiting for a kit with some plastic caps from Recaro as part of a recall that I knew nothing about until a couple weeks ago. Then I will try installing it again.
I tried the Signo rear facing, and it was insanely difficult. First off because of the slant of my seats, I would need at least 1 pool noodle which I don't have handy. Second, you have to take the front of the cover off to access the belt path. Once I have the cover off and the seat belt clicked, I can't get the cover back on because it is blocked. I tried again and again before I gave up. I've also heard that some people dislike the Signo/Como rear facing because the sides (by the legs) are so tall that it is hard to get the child in and out over the side, and that it causes very little leg room for older toddlers. I'm also concerned that with the high sides, that I may have clearance issues between the top of those sides and the top of the doorway of the car (as I did with the infant seat).


At 18 months, dd2 is about the same size as dd1 was when she was 2-2 1/2. She has probably an inch or so left before she enters the 1-inch allowable space above her head. I do not want to turn her ff yet.

I was hoping between the Signo and the radian we already own not to have to fork out 2-300 more on a new seat.

Will I be able to use the seats I already own?

[Unregistered]

sorry for the 3rd post. I wasn't sure if I gave the sizes of my kids. The 5 year old (turning 5 on Sat!) is about 40 pounds and probably 42-44 inches (it's been a while since I measured). The 18 month old is 28 pounds (or more if she's gained) and at least 32 inches. Both have short legs and long torso's. The 5 year old wears size 4 pants and size 6's for tops (once in a while a 5 or 7 depending on the brand). The 18 month old wears 18 month pants (some 24 months/2T, but they are a bit long whereas some of the 18 month pants are getting a touch short), and 3T tops (sometimes 2T is ok, but rarely)

[Defrost]

Ah, I see - sorry I missed the part about trying to use the Radian for two different kids and about it being outboard already.

The techs who previously installed your carseats should have taught YOU how to do it. Techs are educators, not installers. :)

I'm not familiar with your vehicle, so it's hard to come up with ideas for what to do next. Maybe if you start a new post with "02 Nissan Pathfinder" in the title, you'll more responses from people who have or have owned that vehicle, and what worked for them.

[mommycat]

Those are some long torsoed kids, from the sound of it.

A few points:
1. you can use a tightly rolled receiving blanket or thin towel instead of a pool noodle for RF installs
2. for Signo RF, if you try that again: could you peel back the cover, tread the seatbelt through, replace the cover, then click/tighten the seatbelt? Or is this what you were already trying to do?
3. Have you tried putting the either Radian in the center? Swapping the sides of the car? Sometimes switching the position (even just opposite outboard positions) can make a difference.

[Unregistered]

Those are some long torsoed kids, from the sound of it.

A few points:
1. you can use a tightly rolled receiving blanket or thin towel instead of a pool noodle for RF installs
2. for Signo RF, if you try that again: could you peel back the cover, tread the seatbelt through, replace the cover, then click/tighten the seatbelt? Or is this what you were already trying to do?
3. Have you tried putting the either Radian in the center? Swapping the sides of the car? Sometimes switching the position (even just opposite outboard positions) can make a difference.

1. Yes true, I didn't try it at the time as dh was annoyed about watching the kids while I was "fooling around" with the carseats.
2. I felt I needed to click the seat belt first so it didn't retract while I was fixing the cover. I can't remember for sure what the issue was. I think maybe the seat belt was twisting if I had it clicked, but loose while I tried to get the cover back on. I may try again, but didn't try too hard when I already knew it was too upright and was concerned about clearance issues.
3. I was just thinking today about trying opposites outboard positions. I also noticed an old post where someone had an Xterra with a seat that looked similar to my Pathfinder (though I couldn't see the belts). There was 3 across with a radian ff in the center and 2 convertables rf outboard. So I may try that. dd1 may not like being so close to dd2, she already gets mad if dd2 touches her seat. With the Signo ff and the Maxi Cosi rf, there is literally just over a hand span (with my fingers splayed) between the two seats, so I don't know if it would work or not.

[Unregistered]

I tried again today with the radian. There did not seem to be much difference between the two outboard positions and there is no way in heck of fitting 2 car seats in the back seat if I installed the radian in the center.

I was doing this at Buy Buy Baby during my lunch time, and didn't have the Signo with me, so I did not try that.

At Buy Buy Baby, they allowed my to use the newer radian rf foot which is taller than my old one, but it still didn't help.

I tried a Nautilus, I was able to get an ok install. The buckle was still teetering on the edge of the seat, but not as much as with the Radian. I also tried a Marathon rf, and it would probably be ok, but again, that backle was real close to the edge of the belt path.


I'm not really sure what I can do at this point. I'm pretty frustrated with my car right now.

[mommycat]

I would suggest you try to find a c-s.org tech near you and try to meet up for an in-person look.

In the meantime, I prefer the looks of the Radian installed FF with no twists as opposed to the twisted one, as it has potential while the twisted version does not. If you get a chance to try again, could you try this with the Radian FF just to see if it is possible to improve on it:
- if not already done so, pull out the base to the recline position (not the RF foot, the pull down base). I would expect this to change the angle at which the Radian sits on the vehicle seat, hopefully bringing the beltpath a tad closer to the buckle
- if at all possible, shift the Radian a bit closer to the buckle stalk
- buckle the seat belt, loosely pull out the slack (pulling through the velcro slit at the front of the seat, and with the shoulder retractor still free), then push the seat down as much as possible (try kneeling or standing in it), starting by pushing on the far side then shifting the pressure onto the buckle side. Pressing down hard on that side (tilting the seat a bit, even) push on the buckle to make sure that the edge of it is sliding past the edge of the belt path (the area outlined in green below). If it was hung up at all then getting it to slide past that spot will allow you to tighten the seat down even more.
- if this works and the joint between the male/female end is no longer on the edge of the beltpath, then I would consider that acceptable even if the side of the plastic buckle is partly on the edge.